2, Scripture Readings – Summaries of the readings of each Sunday Mass (by Chris Oliver)

Exodus 16: 2-4, 12-15; Psalm 77(78); Eph 4: 17, 20-24; John 6: 24-35

Exodus, the second of the five books of the Law, tells of Moses leading the Israelites through the desert to the promised land, a collection of slaves becoming a people, developing culture and laws. Above all coming to recognise and worship the God who saved them as the one God. They often rebelled and murmured against Moses. But God fed them in the desert with quails and manna – ‘daily, or tomorrow’s bread’.

The psalm reminds us of the importance of handing down to later generations the traditions of God’s dealings with his people.

Paul continues reminding the Ephesians of the new rules they must live by. Not overturning the rules in Exodus, but demanding more and deeper conformity to Jesus’ way. We have to put aside our old self which – as Paul knows very well – so easily “gets corrupted by following illusory desires”. We must “put on the new self that has been created in God’s way”.

In chapter 6 of John’s Gospel, after Jesus fed five thousand, he starts to explain the meaning of this miracle. Jesus feeds us, just as God fed the Israelites in the wilderness. Gently Jesus corrects the Jews’ understanding of Exodus: It was not “Moses who gave” but Jesus’ “Father who gives the bread from heaven” – now and always.

Psalm Response: The Lord gave them bread from heaven.

(Exodus 16: 2-4, 12-15; Psalm 77(78); Eph 4: 17, 20-24; John 6: 24-35)Chris

Jeremiah 23: 1-6; Psalm 22(23); Eph 2: 13-18; Mark 6: 30-34

Jeremiah was preaching around 600 BC. For forty years before the exile he reminded Judah’s rulers how they had broken the covenant, worshipping other gods and taking advantage of the poor. His warnings were ignored, Jerusalem was destroyed, and the people taken into exile in Babylon.

But the Lord promises to rescue his people. He will make a new covenant and send a descendant of David to rule with truth, integrity and honesty.

The psalm celebrates God’s loving care for his people, like a shepherd guarding and guiding his flock, and looking forward to his generous end-time feast.

Paul tells the Ephesians that Gentiles and Jews, previously separated by the Law, have now become one “by the blood of Christ”. The Law’s barriers have been broken down, and God’s covenant now extends to Gentiles. Early proposals for Christians to ignore the Jewish Scriptures were rejected, and the Old Testament readings now included at Mass can help our faith.

Mark’s Gospel has described the death of John the Baptist while the apostles were away on their mission. On their return Jesus takes them away ‘on retreat’. But the crowds follow, setting the scene for the feeding miracles. For the next five weeks we switch to John’s Gospel for a fuller account of Eucharistic feeding.

Psalm Response: The Lord is my shepherd: there is nothing I shall want.

Amos 7:12-15; Psalm 84(85): 9-1 4; Eph 1: 3-14; Mark 6: 7-13

The first six chapters of the Book of Amos show in detail why the Jews will suffer judgement. Amaziah denounces Amos to the northern king for his unwelcome prophecies. Speaking around 760 BC, Amos bravely ignores him, and continues to warn the people. 200 years later his warnings were written down – because he was right: the northern kingdom had rejected God, and was destroyed.

The Psalm describes the coming happiness revealed by the Lord: virtues are imagined as courtiers of the returned king.

Over the next seven weeks we hear extracts from Paul’s breathtaking letter “to the Ephesians”. Its ideas can flow past us so quickly that we can easily miss their significance. If we stop after each phrase and ponder its meaning, we see a God very different from common belief. A God who lovingly “chose us in Christ” “before the world was made”. A God whose “hidden plan he so kindly made in Christ from the beginning”, so that we might “live through love in his presence”. This was no ‘plan B’, suddenly concocted to correct a mistake!

In Mark’s gospel, after his rejection in his home town we heard last week, Jesus now sends the disciples out on mission Next week we hear about their experiences.

Psalm Response: Let us see, O Lord, your mercy, and give us your saving help.

Ezekiel 2: 2-5; Psalm 122(123); 2 Cor 12: 7-10; Mark 6: 1-6

Ezekiel was a priest in the Jewish exile to Babylon in 597 BC. Like all prophets, including Christ and Paul, Ezekiel suffered for speaking truth to those who did not want to hear it. Here he is commissioned to speak the Lord’s words to Israel – “whether they listen or not”.

The psalm begs the Lord to have mercy on the people, who are suffering humiliating contempt by others.

The last three chapters of Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians, perhaps a separate letter, contains an impassioned defence against allegations that he was weak, and less committed because he earned his own living. Paul compares his suffering to Christ’s, whose sufferings bring believers to accept suffering as the way to the Kingdom.

We can only speculate about Paul’s “stake in the flesh”. But it clearly caused bodily pain, sometimes, as in Galatia, keeping him from his work of spreading the gospel. And it brought humility instead of the pride he might have had from his successful work. But this very weakness was a continual reminder of his apostolic task.

In Mark’s Gospel Jesus, too, finds his words are not listened to, even “among his own relations” and family. Although the later Gospels soften this rejection, it is clear Jesus found it painful.

Psalm Response: Our eyes are on the Lord till he shows us his mercy.

(Ezekiel 2: 2-5; Psalm 122(123); 2 Cor 12: 7-10; Mark 6: 1-6)

Wisdom 1: 13-15, 2:23-24; Psalm 29(30); 2 Cor 89: 7-15; Mark: 5: 21-43

The Book of Wisdom, written in the century before Christ, starts by exhorting us to “love righteousness … and seek the Lord with sincerity of heart”. God made man in his own image: not immortal, for only God is immortal, but God made righteous man “imperishable”. Death is not the end.

The Psalm gives thanks for deliverance from death: prayers during sickness were answered by God, triumphing over death.

The reading from Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians might have been written today: we should share the earth’s resources with other peoples currently in need. We may need help some time! Paul was collecting financial aid for the Church in Jerusalem, since many towns in the rest of the empire had greater resources. Paul’s approach is supremely practical: he praises the Corinthians and then challenges them to give generously. But they should always keep a balance, not beggar themselves.

We resume our Sunday readings from Mark’s gospel. During his journey to heal Jairus’ daughter, Jesus is interrupted by a woman seeking a cure for her continuous haemorrhage. Jesus tells her her faith has restored her to health. As with the child raised from the dead, God’s kingdom breaks through, to help us understand what God has planned for us in his new creation.

Psalm Response: I will praise you, Lord, you have rescued me.

Ezekiel 17: 22-24; Psalm 91(92); 2 Cor 5: 6-10; Mark 4: 26-34

Ezekiel has many chapters about Israel’s failure to keep faith in God, culminating in the Babylonian exile. But God keeps his promises: He will restore his people to Israel. A remnant will survive and return to Zion, to build a renewed and perfect creation.
The Psalm extolls the Lord’s just deeds: “the just” are so steadfast they appear rooted, flourishing “in the courts of our God”, while “evildoers shall be scattered”.
Paul has described some of his difficulties, accepting that “while we live we are always being given up to death for Jesus’ sake”. He encourages the Corinthians to have confidence in the Lord: whatever problems we face in our earthly lives, we look forward to making “our home with the Lord”. Then our reward will be affected by our behaviour in this world.
In Mark’s gospel Jesus describes the kingdom of God in parables. All around us are examples of transformation, seeds becoming unimaginable plants. We have got used to thinking of the kingdom of God as “somewhere else” – in “heaven” rather than on earth. But Jesus’ parables do not suggest this, and in the Lord’s prayer we ask every day that God’s kingdom come “on earth, as it is in heaven”. Do we mean it? What are we doing about it?

Psalm Response: It is good to give you thanks, O Lord.

(Ezekiel 17: 22-24; Psalm 91(92); 2 Cor 5: 6-10; Mark 4: 26-34)

Gen 3:9-15; Ps 129(130); 2 Cor 4:13-5:1; Mk 3:20-35

How well the writer of Genesis describes the human condition: we are so curious we do that which is forbidden, just to see what it is like. When things go wrong, we blame others. And many lives are hard: getting food and bringing children into the world requires the sweat of our brow. But in the process “man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil”. Not a mistake – God knew what he was doing right from the first!

The Psalm begs pardon for our sins: as we trust in the Lord’s mercy we can also confidently hope in our redemption.

And Paul encourages the Corinthians to look forward to the eternal glory to come in an everlasting home built by God.

We would have a very poor impression of Mary if we had only Mark’s gospel, with no nativity and only Jesus’ words in today’s reading dismissing his mother and brothers as of no account, compared to those who do the will of God. Fortunately the other gospels written later give us a more developed picture: Mary indeed did do the will of God and is honoured as the first believer, the means by which God chose to send the Messiah to show us the way to salvation through suffering – his and ours.

Psalm Response: With the Lord there is mercy, and fullness of redemption.

(Gen 3:9-15; Ps 129(130); 2 Cor 4:13-5:1; Mk 3:20-35)

Exodus 24:3-8; Ps 115(116); Hebrews 9:11-15; Mark 14:12-16, 22-26)Scripture Readings 3rd June 2018, Body and Blood of Christ, Year B

After rescuing the Israelites from Egypt God gave Moses the Law, including the Ten Commandments. The animal’s blood thrown over people and altar symbolises the people’s agreement to this covenant.

The psalm gives thanks to God for answering prayers in time of need. Humanly speaking God loses the praise of a faithful servant who dies.

The blood which ratified Israel’s covenant with God foreshadowed the people’s suffering before they could build their kingdom in the promised land. So the Letter to the Hebrews sees Jesus Christ’s suffering and bloody sacrifice as marking the new covenant, which enables the new people of God to enter their eternal inheritance. But, as Paul reminded us last week, as “co-heirs with Christ” we must share in Christ’s suffering “so as to share his glory”. God’s kingdom can be built only through suffering: the Cross is the only way. Like the apostles, we must also drink the cup Christ has drunk, as well as eating the heavenly food we celebrate today.

Mark’s gospel brings us back to the Passover blood of the lamb, with which the exodus began, then forward to the Last Supper, when Jesus’ own blood was drunk to initiate the new covenant. And Jesus commanded us to repeat the Eucharistic meal “until he comes”.

Psalm Response: The cup of salvation I will raise: I will call on the Lord’s name.

Deut 4: 32-34, 39-40; Psalm 32(33); Romans 8:14-17; Matthew 28: 16-20

Deuteronomy, the second book of the Law, consolidated Israel’s beliefs and rituals. A long introductory teaching by Moses emphasises the requirement for Israel to keep the Law, as its part in their covenant with God. In today’s reading Moses emphasises the uniqueness of God, who has made himself known to Israel, speaking out of a fire, and who has made a covenant with them: He will be their God and they are to be his people. Moses then repeats the ten commandments, given by God.

The Psalm picks up God’s omnipotence, who created even the heavens and the stars. We can rely confidently on His promises.

God’s revelation in Christ fulfilled this covenant relationship: Paul tells the Romans that if we are in the Spirit we are not in the flesh. We are no longer dominated by our human tendency to turn from God. We are now God’s children, sharing in Christ’s inheritance, in his suffering and in his glory.

There only two resurrection appearances in Matthew’s Gospel. Jesus appeared very briefly to two Marys. Then the Gospel ends with Jesus commissioning the eleven disciples to “make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit”. And He promises to be with his people always.

Psalm Response: Happy the people the Lord has chosen as his own.

(Deut 4: 32-34, 39-40; Psalm 32(33); Romans 8:14-17; Matthew 28: 16-20)

Acts 2: 1-11; Psalm 103(104); Gal 5: 16-25; John 15: 26-27, 16: 12-15

Pentecost, 50 days after Passover, was one of the three Jewish pilgrimage feasts. Nomadic Hebrews sacrificed lambs in the spring to ensure adequate water for their flocks through the dry season. Settled into agriculture, they celebrated the barley harvest a few days later. These two linked feasts became associated with the Passover in Egypt: the plague “passed over” houses with doorposts marked with the blood of a lamb. Tabernacles, when everyone slept in tents on the hillsides for the grape harvest, was associated with the temporary shelters during the 40 years of wilderness wandering.

The Dead Sea Scrolls associated Pentecost with God giving the Covenant on Sinai, and they enrolled new community members at this feast. Pentecost therefore fits neatly with the formal birth of the Christian Church and the commitment and strengthening of the Christian community for its task.

This magnificent psalm praises God for his creative wisdom and power. God takes joy in his creation.

Being filled with the Holy Spirit not only enabled the disciples to speak in foreign languages: it gave them the courage to travel throughout the countries listed in the first reading, fearlessly proclaiming “the marvels of God”. The Holy Spirit gives each person the skills they need. And the Spirit clarifies Christ’s teaching through the Church.

Psalm response: Send forth your Spirit, O Lord, and renew the face of the earth.

(Acts 2: 1-11; Psalm 103(104); Gal 5: 16-25; John 15: 26-27, 16: 12-15)